What's Needed to Improve Shooting? (For Coaches and Parents)

I'm quite sure that the many people who receive my Shooting Newsletters do so because you care deeply about the subject of shooting for your players or children or yourself. Surely most of you realize shooting has been in the dumpster for a long time, and you wonder what can be done about it. Hopefully, what I write about is inspiring to you.

There IS an answer to the decline in shooting, and though it's going to take a lot of individual work on the part of coaches and players, the answers are simple and natural and the process of discovery will be exhilarating. Great shooting need not take thousands of hours to learn. Mastery isn't reserved just for the super-coordinated and physically gifted.

The motion of shooting a basketball accurately and with high arch is so simple and natural everyone can do it immediately, and to master it to some degree of success (to really learn to trust it under pressure) will not take an interminably long time.

In my opinion, the way many coaches coach shooting (if they coach it at all) does require a long time to master and many kids will never achieve it. The instructions that are commonly given, like squaring up, shooting at the top of the jump, and wrist flipping, actually sabotage the natural process that young kids grow up with. When a skill is difficult to do and repeat, or feels uncomfortable or unnatural, the level of discipline and commitment necessary to learn it is tremendous. With the short attention span of kids today, plus the desire to excel immediately, it's no wonder few of them learn to shoot well.

START AN INQUIRY ABOUT SHOOTING

As a coach or parent, keep inquiring as to what great shooting requires. You'll find many of the answers in my video and in the articles I write about it. You'll find other answers in your own experience, in the experience of your players, and what you and they see at games and even on TV. But you have to know what to look for.

LEARN TO DO IT YOURSELF

Make shooting an inquiry of your own, not just a theory. You don't need youth or great physical condition to do stand-in-place shooting. If you don't have any physical problems, you can learn the skill by shooting in close, from 15 feet and less.

My videos show exactly how to learn and practice the skill and what "distinctions" make a difference. My articles can lead you to the distinctions and awareness that will teach you how to control the flight of a basketball. My article "Coaching Shooting with Large Groups" on my website (Articles/reviews page) lists a number of areas to look at, and how to increase awareness. Awareness is developmental, so if you just increase awareness of the key areas of shooting (e.g. arch, spin, where power comes from, shooting arm, wrist and hand, adding leg power, etc.), learning will happen. When you couple that increased awareness with the understandings and experiences of how things work best, learning is accelerated.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO ... NATURALLY?

If you were to go to a distance of about 7-8' from the basket and shoot without any preconceived ways of shooting, how would your body do it?

o Would it make sense to force your body to square up?

...or would the body want to open naturally for a one-handed motion?

o Would you want the ball to approach the rim in a flat trajectory, with the ball coming in just over the front rim?

... or would it be more effective to come into the basket from high above the rim? Which works better? Which makes more sense?

o Would a wrist flipping or throwing motion (horizontal) be effective, or would you want to shoot more vertically and have the ball rise high above the basket to come down more softly? What angle of approach would give you the biggest landing area? Would you want to shoot FROM the upward drive of the legs, or not use it and shoot at the top of the jump?

Go to a court and examine these things. When you can truly do it as well as talk about it, your coaching will improve dramatically.

YOU KNOW HOW TO SHOOT WELL

An inquisitive examination of what your body would do naturally will teach you a lot. You'll find you already KNOW how to shoot beautifully, and so do your players. You and they know instinctively what works best. But bad habits and ineffective understandings have covered over the great, natural knowing. What you see in other players in this shooting-challenged world of ours, and what some coaches have told you over your basketball life, doesn't jive with that instinct. No wonder kids get frustrated.

Explore it naturally, both yourselves and with your players, and see what happens. Start and maintain a conversation about shooting. Ask them what works and what doesn't work. Ask them what they see in themselves and others, and tell them what you see. When one of your players starts to really "get" it and shoot lights out, ask him or her to demonstrate and tell the team what the key things are that have been learned. This is not rocket science. It's simple bio-mechanics -- you DO this and the ball DOES that, every time. Once they "get" it, they'll start learning like crazy.

My videos will shortcut the learning process because they demonstrate and discuss the important distinctions in shooting. Showing them to your kids will open the doors quicker. They can learn this by themselves (as did most of the very few who shoot beautifully already), but good modeling and good coaching can greatly accelerate the process.

Tom Nordland is a shooting expert and coach from California via Minnesota. His videos, coaching and writings are inspiring a Renaissance (a rebirth, a revival) in shooting around the world as players and coaches are taught the things that really matter in shooting. A great shooter as a youth, Tom was given a gift of seeing shooting like few have ever seen it. He sees the “essence” of great shooting and how to get there. The good news is that it’s very simple. The few great shooters of today and yesterday mastered simple things, not complicated motions. Improved shooting is now possible for everybody in the game, and mastery is available to those who sincerely dedicate themselves to it. Visit Tom’s website (http://www.swish22.com/) to read of his background and his articles and newsletters, and to view the remarkable endorsements and amazing testimonials for this approach to shooting.

For Improved Shooting - Laser-Like Focus and High Awareness on Alignment!

I just gave a private lesson to a couple brothers, ages 9 and 15, who live with their younger sister and parents in Moscow most of the year (the father works in the oil business there). During the lesson I drilled 7-8 medium-long shots and asked them to notice how focused I was.

I could see that my near perfect performance (deadly accurate, great control of distance) for those several shots came from the principles I teach (open stance, power from the legs, shooting on the way up, alignment as long as possible, a Set Point in line with the eye, the Release as an upward pushing action, etc.). But what sets me apart from them at this point in their development is my intense focus on the line of the shot (the connection of body, hand, ball, and target) for those 2-3 seconds of a shot. You might call it a "Laser-like" focus.

I get the ball aligned with my eye and the basket and keep it there unwaveringly throughout the motion of setting, release and follow through. They were struggling to do that, perhaps starting aligned and then finishing off line, or bringing the ball up off-line and then having spotty results with direction.

It's normal for focus and awareness and concentration and confidence to rise and fall as you're learning a new stroke. Just keep working on it. Note what's happening, which of those is developing and which needs more work and attention. Keep returning to the simple things that work so well, and pretty soon your focus and alignment and all that stuff will get easier and more consistent. As they become easier for you, your shooting performance will start to soar. In the moments when they come together -- briefly at first, more and more with time -- you'll see the results that tell you you're on a great path of shooting.

CHECK OUT YOUR OWN SHOOTING

Notice how aligned you are with the ball, your shooting eye and the basket as you shoot. Note your level of concentration (focus) on the basket as you shoot, and your awareness of your body motion and direction and height. You can read my articles and newsletters, etc., and get my Swish videos if you want to learn my method of shooting, but just being more focused and connected (and aligned) to the target will improve your shooting, no matter how you shoot.

Tom Nordland is a shooting expert and coach from California via Minnesota. His videos, coaching and writings are inspiring a Renaissance (a rebirth, a revival) in shooting around the world as players and coaches are taught the things that really matter in shooting. A great shooter as a youth, Tom was given a gift of seeing shooting like few have ever seen it. He sees the “essence” of great shooting and how to get there. The good news is that it’s very simple. The few great shooters of today and yesterday mastered simple things, not complicated motions. Improved shooting is now possible for everybody in the game, and mastery is available to those who sincerely dedicate themselves to it. Visit Tom’s website (http://www.swish22.com/) to read of his background and his articles and newsletters, and to view the remarkable endorsements and amazing testimonials for this approach to shooting.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/471943

"Slo-Mo" It for Greater Learning

When learning any new skill, it's very valuable to slow it down to learn more deeply. When you go to learn any new motion, especially a complicated motion like a golf swing, it's helpful to slow it down and also keep it small and in close. I am not versed in learning theory of how, technically, the body, brain and nervous system receive and process stimuli. I just know that if I slow it down, I learn it quicker. It just works that way.

Young kids are often just learning to grow into their bodies, especially those with big growth spurts, and this is a great way to help them feel more stuff and learn to do the seemingly complicated motions in a basketball shot. With practice and patience and a lot of forgiveness for the inevitable errors, learning will take place.

GOLFERS ARE NOTORIOUS...

Way too often, golfers swing too fast and hard when they're learning the swing. (When they have it down, too.) Especially we guys, who want power so badly! When they slow it down, learning goes up. A great instruction for a full swing in golf is, "Take the club back only as far and as fast as you can feel it." When you do that, learning is greatly enhanced.

The basketball stroke I coach is no where near the complexity of a golf swing, but we can use the same tactic. Slo-Mo it and keep it in close and give the body more time to feel and learn it. Remember to "play" with the motions, too. Exaggerate and do extremes. Use the opposite hand. Awareness is the main thing we need, and the slower and smaller something is, the easier it is to be aware. Once you "know" the stroke to a greater and greater degree, then you can speed it up (slowly) and move back in distance (gradually) and you'll be able to keep the new stroke going.

Our bodies are amazing learning machines. Find ways to enhance your sense of direction and distance and the motions needed to create a basketball shot, and your shooting will start to soar.

Tom Nordland is a shooting expert and coach from California via Minnesota. His videos, coaching and writings are inspiring a Renaissance (a rebirth, a revival) in shooting around the world as players and coaches are taught the things that really matter in shooting. A great shooter as a youth, Tom was given a gift of seeing shooting like few have ever seen it. He sees the “essence” of great shooting and how to get there. The good news is that it’s very simple. The few great shooters of today and yesterday mastered simple things, not complicated motions. Improved shooting is now possible for everybody in the game, and mastery is available to those who sincerely dedicate themselves to it. Visit Tom’s website (http://www.swish22.com/) to read of his background and his articles and newsletters, and to view the remarkable endorsements and amazing testimonials for this approach to shooting.